"If thou canst not give pleasure to all by thy deeds and thy knowledge Give it then, unto the few; many to please is but in vain."

Friedrich Schiller Literature See all quotes by Friedrich Schiller →

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More by Friedrich Schiller

“On the mountains there is freedom!The world is perfect everywhere,Save where man comes with his torment.”

“Don't let your heart depend on thingsThat ornament life in a fleeting way!He who possesses, let him learn to lose,He who is fortunate, let him learn pain.”

“Life is only error,And death is knowledge.”

“Das Leben ist Nur ein Moment, der Tod ist auch nur einer!”

“Was man nicht aufgibt, hat man nie verloren.”

“Man kann den Menschen nicht verwehren, Zu denken, was sie wollen.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Rationalism in politics, as I have interpreted it, involves an identifiable error, a misconception with regard to the nature of human knowledge, which amounts to a corruption of the mind. And conseque…"

— Michael Oakeshott

Philosophy1901–1990

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"What these thinkers despise in the man of study is precisely the man who … does not predicate the capture of its environment by the species, or who, if he does predicate it, as the scientist does by h…"

— Julien Benda

Literature1867–1956

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"Knowledge never injures the soul. It only purges that which encrusts and saps the soul."

— Robert Silverberg

Literature1935

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"Knowledge brings that tranquility, brings that harmony, to all human beings of every type, of every age. And it doesn't matter what their background is. It doesn't matter what they are up to. It just …"

— Prem Rawat

Psychology1957

#knowledge